The goal of the meeting was to present the results of the final assessment of the program “Landslide Disaster Management in the Republic of Armenia” and the handout of the equipment used in the frameworks of the program to the Armenian side.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of Armenia Eiji Taguchi delivered a greeting speech on his behalf and on behalf of the Government of Japan.

“I am extremely glad to be here and to see the results of the program. The Government of Japan promotes every program, which is aimed at the reduction of disaster risks. Sendai action plan itself is an evidence of all that. Armenia and Japan have a common history of struggle against the natural disasters. We are also grateful to the Minister Armen Yeritsyan for the great efforts towards the Armenian-Japanese cooperation. I am sure that our activities towards having disaster resistant societies in both countries will be continued,” concluded the ambassador.

The acting Minister of Emergency Situations Haykaram Mkhitaryan also greeted the attendees expressing gratitude to the Ambassador.

“Our log-term cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency has given tangible results. In the frameworks of the program “Landslide Disaster Management”, for the first time in Armenia there was implemented the Japanese experience of the sphere of landslide disaster management. Having considerable achievements, I am hopeful that at the end of the meeting we will record high results of the program as it was in case of the previous programs implemented with the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Our cooperation has started still in 2010, when the Government of Japan gave the Republic of Armenia 28 fire-fighting trucks.

Honorable Ambassador, I would like to extend words of gratitude to You, to the Government of Japan, to our Japanese colleagues, for this necessary and targeted support, and for the effective cooperation. I hope that the warm relations, which were achieved by the efforts and leadership of Armen Yeritsyan will be maintained and will be continued in the future”.

There also made reports the head and experts of the group, who have arrived in Armenia for the purpose of making final assessments. They have started their work on January 7 and today they presented the results. The experts mentioned that the program, which has launched in 2014, would be completed within the planned period – in July, 2017.

In the result of the bilateral agreement, there was signed a document on the transfer of the equipment used in the frameworks of the program to the Armenian side.

The Director of the Rescue Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of RA, r/s Colonel Mushegh Ghazaryan concluded the meeting.

“The report presented a few minutes ago by the members of the program assessment group, proved once more the efficiency of the program, the interest of the Japanese experts and the professionals of the Armenian side in the provision of success and continuation of the activities in the future.

I would like to note once more that in the future this program would become a basis for the establishment of a more efficient system of landslide disaster management in our country. For this we have a will, knowledge and technologies”.

Let’s also mention that in the frameworks of the program “Landslide Disaster Management in the Republic of Armenia” there were chosen the communities of Arap of Shirak Region of RA and Getahovit of Tavush Region of RA for the conduction of engineering and defense actions. The choice was made in the result of the measurements and installation of deep and surface digital sensors, registering activations on the slopes of landslides. In 2016, in this communities there were carried out digging activities, by means of which ground waters were taken away, which allowed to restrain further developments of landslide phenomena.

For the pilot program, Voghjaberd community of Kotayk Region was chosen as a third site. Besides the two digital deep extensometers installed here for measuring the movement of the landslide, four simple surface measuring devices were also installed in different parts of the slope adjacent to that section of Yerevan-Garni highway.

In the frameworks of the program, there was processed “A real-time landslide monitoring system”, which is a system of automated monitoring of landslides and warning about the probable disaster.

The experts of JICA have installed a computer in Voghjaberd village hall, with certain software, which allows receiving in the village hall the real-time records of the measuring devices.

The members of the working group formed in the frameworks of the project have also attended landslide disaster management courses, which were conducted in three stages in Japan.